What It Means:

After having a left knee arthroscopy and a partial medial meniscectomy, Kimbrel was given a timetable of three-to-six weeks to return. He managed to keep to the low-end of that time frame. Brad Ziegler, who had been serving as the closer, will move back into a setup role with his 2.51 ERA.

Kimbrel's 3.55 ERA and his 3.35 xFIP in 33 innings this season are career-worsts, but that speaks to just how good he's been over his career. His 37.04 strikeout percentage is well above the league average (21.00 percent). We project Kimbrel to record a 3.28 ERA and a 30.36 strikeout percentage over the rest of the year.